MikeMagi Rarely has a movie mixed as many unlikely co-stars -- and genres -- as "Murder at the Vanities." Mixed up in the mystery of who slew a brunette in Earl Carroll's rafters are brash, beaming Jack Oakie, wooden European crooner Carl Brisson, Kitty Carlisle (long before "To Tell the Truth,") Victor McLaglen as a burly flatfoot whose accent suggests he just emigrated from Dublin and Dorothy Stickney who would go on to appear in Broadway's longest-running hit, "Life with Father." My vote for outstanding performance is Stickney as the dim-witted maid whose hysterics are worth the price of admission. Then again, so are the scantily clad chorines garbed in not much more than gossamer just before the Production Code came in.

MartinHafer This film is a very strange amalgamation of two types of films--the Busby Berkeley-style musical (like 42ND STREET, FOOTLIGHT PARADE and GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933) combined with a B-mystery. And, on top of that, the film has Pre-Code sensibilities that would shock most today. The newly strengthened Production Code was enacted in 1934 and this one snuck in just before it was adopted. As a result, a lot of surprising material got into the film, such as a song and dance number called "Marijuana" as well as the skimpiest costumes you can find in showgirls during the era. Heck, making them totally naked wouldn't have been that different than what you see here! Purely because of its Pre-Code excesses it's worth seeing! Now is this weird concoction worth seeing other than for lovers of Pre-Code films? Well, yes, but only if you have a high tolerance for lots and lots of singing and dancing. The film abounds with one enormous production number after another and to be quite frank, other than Marijuana, the other songs are amazingly forgettable. So is the dancing, unless you really love trying to sneak peeks at all the exposed flesh--trying to see if you can catch sight of something a bit more! As for the mystery, it is interesting but unfortunately it's obscured by all this singing. However, most of the characters (such as those played by Jack Oakie and Victor McLaglen) were enjoyable and helped to obscure the odd casting of Carl Brisson despite his heavy accent. His singing was just fine, but when it came to romance and acting, he did seem like a very unlikely actor for this film.Overall, it's a passable film but a real treat for those who love to see and marvel at the very loose morals of the Pre-Code films. They just don't come a lot looser than this!

JohnHowardReid It's good to see that Vintage Film Buff have correctly categorized their excellent DVD release as a "musical", for that's what this film is, pure and simple. Like its unofficial remake, Murder at the Windmill (1949), the murder plot is just an excuse for an elaborate girlie show with Kitty Carlisle and Gertrude Michael leading a cast of super-decorative girls including Ann Sheridan, Lucy Ball, Beryl Wallace, Gwenllian Gill, Gladys Young, Barbara Fritchie, Wanda Perry and Dorothy White. Carl Brisson is also on hand to lend his strong voice to "Cocktails for Two". Undoubtedly the movie's most popular song, it is heard no less than four times. However, it's Gertrude Michael who steals the show, not only with her rendition of "Sweet Marijauna" but her strong performance as the hero's rejected girlfriend. As for the rest of the cast, we could have done without Jack Oakie and Victor McLaglen altogether. The only good thing about Oakie's role is his weak running gag with cult icon, Toby Wing. In fact, to give you an idea as to how far the rest of the comedy is over-indulged and over-strained, super-dumb Inspector McLaglen simply cannot put his hands on the killer even though, would you believe, in this instance it happens to be the person you most suspect. Director Mitch Leisen actually goes to great pains to point the killer out to even the dumbest member of the cinema audience by giving the player concerned close-up after close-up.

dbborroughs During the opening night of the Vanties a woman is found dead on the catwalk above the stage. As the show continues the police attempt to piece together who killed who and why before the final curtain.I had always heard that this was a great classic comedy mystery so I was excited to find myself a copy. Unfortunately no one told me about the musical numbers which go on and on and on. While the numbers certainly are the type that Hollywood did in their glory days, they become intrusive because they pretty much stop the movie dead despite attempts to weave action around them. This wouldn't be so bad if the music was half way decent, but its not. There is only one good song. Worse its as if the studio knew they had one song, Cocktails for Two, and we're forced to endure four versions of it: a duet, a big production number, as the Vanities finale and in the background as incidental music. I don't think Spike Jones and His City Slickers ever played it that much. The rest of the movie is pretty good with Victor McLaglen sparring nicely with Jack Oakie. Charles Middleton is very funny is his scenes as an actor in love with the wardrobe mistress.By no mean essential I can recommend this if you think you can get through the musical numbers, or are willing to scan through them. Its a fun movie of the sort they don't make any more.